Predator: The Last Hunt
by alphalima1980
Summary: Landing in the US-Mexico border, a dedicated and deeply spiritual Hunter targeted Pedro Quintana, a powerful drug lord in Mexico. Driven by his past experiences and cultural beliefs and seeking a worthy prey he readied for the Hunt, but he will soon discover things are not what it seems and the old rules of primitive but civilized times doesn't fit into this new, savage world.
1. Chapter 1: UFO

**PROLOGUE: UFO**

* * *

 **International Space Station, summer 2019**

The Earth looked beautiful through the circular windows of the International Space Station; Astronaut Bill Sanders were up there for three months now and never had bored with the view. Occasionally he looked towards the moon and wondered when mankind will set feet there again. He had heard from his grandfather and his father about the day Neil Armstrong was the first man who walked on the moon, so he became an astronaut because, being a kid, he wanted to be the first human in Mars.

That could be true soon, as the station passed over North America, Sanders saw a large structure floating in orbit, Four years ago, young inventor Peter Weyland realized the first industrialized mission to install a gigantic solar panel designed to capture solar energy and reflect it to a collector installation in the Sahara desert. The plan worked and Weyland Corp won its first billion and was the main clean energy supplier.

That success motivated other companies to buy shares in Weyland Corp., and one of the areas in which the tycoon wanted to invest was space exploration and the colonization of the solar system. Sanders saw another structure, not large as the first one. This one was the second space mission by Weyland, a sunscreen in orbit over the pole, designed for a totally different purpose; while its solar panels created an artificial solstice and captured energy from the sun, the solar screen created a winter on the polar cap, cooling the ocean and restoring glaciers. It would take a few years, but global warming would revert to pre-industrial levels.

Sanders observed to the opposite direction, towards outer space, the moon was full, a bright pearl shining in a dark sea, and beyond, nothing but stars. Then something called Bill's attention, at first it looked like a distant star, but it was getting brighter –or closer? The star didn't twinkle, meaning it hadn't light by itself.

-"A meteor?" Sanders wondered. "But it's coming too fast."

The object was approaching, now he noticed it wasn't spherical. Tiny protruding wings each side was visible. "A ship?" He thought. But there wasn't any re-supply mission scheduled, and the ship was coming from outer space, not from Earth.

-"Houston, Come in. This is ISS reporting an object moving in an inbound vector to Earth. Over" Sanders informed.

-"Negative ISS, Radar didn't show anything. Maybe it's too small. Can you confirm over?" Houston mission control responded.

-"I can see it. But you not gonna believe me" Sanders said.

-"Radar contact negative. We're blind. Make sure you're not reporting any Chinese spy satellite or the conspiracy theorists will become crazy if there are rumors of UFOs." Houston control tech commented.

-"I'm pretty sure the Chinese have nothing to do with this" The object was so close that filled the station's little window. Sanders could see it was indeed a ship, but like no one built by humans.

First it wasn't cylindrical like all the rockets built by NASA or any other human space agency; it was fish-like shaped with stubby, protruding wings ending in a cylindrical engines. Second, all over the hull the ship had strange markings, like hieroglyphs or cuneiform writing but more stylized, shining with red led lights on the ship's yellowish gray hull. And third, before Sanders could take a photo, the ship disappeared. Not like it was out of reach, but disappeared, turned it invisible. Sparks crossed the hull and then, it wasn´t there anymore.

Sanders hoped the station's external cameras had recorded the object. He turned on the screen, but it showed only static.

-"Houston, I lost it." Sanders informed "The object disappeared."

-"ISS, NORAD confirmed there was no radar contact with the object, and they advise it must be left out of the log. They neither want those conspiracy theorists go nuts."

-"Roger that, Houston" Sanders agreed. Sanders suspected NORAD had actually detected the object and they had deemed it as top secret, a matter of national security, so he obeyed.

\- o -

The Hunter watched through the triangular window. The green and blue planet shone as the ship passed. There has been long time since it has been on this planet. It seemed the inhabitants had advance into space exploration, the habitat floating in orbit was the proof of that. It was a new sight.

Their ships were invisible to radar but active camouflage was used only on atmosphere were they could be seen by the naked eye. But when the Hunter approached, he'd detected the habitat and at the risk of being discovered, he'd activated the ship's camouflage.

The Hunter's race was nomadic. Having evolved in a planet like the one he was in orbit, long time ago, from a group of mammal reptiles dwelling in a hot jungle; parallel evolution developed a biped humanoid which soon developed a primitive civilization. As soon as they became a spacefaring culture, some of them had developed a "Return to nature" philosophy. The wiser and stronger individuals who are destined to guide the clans had to prove themselves by hunting dangerous prey. Just as primitive humans hunted a Cave bear, an Uroch or a saber tooth tiger the clan leaders of the Hunters stalked and killed dangerous creatures all around their home world, and when they eventually discovered alien life in other planets, they hunted them.

Some centuries ago, one of the clan ships came across this green blue world, so similar to their long lost home planet. And what was their surprise when they found the planet was inhabited by humanoids which used fire and simple weapons. At last, a species which could match their own, but not yet.

As the inhabitants developed the use of metals, the Hunters noticed they've also developed war, and with War, warriors. These warriors could've a match in a young's rite of passage; so the Hunters came here every season for a young to be tested and became an adult.

Sometimes, the Prey had proven itself worthy and shown philosophies akin to the moral code of the Hunters, so they adapted those customs into their own. The Hunter remembered his own Rite of passage, long time ago in the volcanic Island arch where these creatures had developed a warrior culture and wooden buildings. Their weapons were sharp and deadly, but it was their philosophy, something called "Bushido" which had attracted the young Hunter.

The Hunter stalked his prey for a time, and finally revealed himself to the warrior in a beautiful forest of pink and violet colored trees. In a blade combat the Hunter had defeated his opponent, and the fallen Warrior had prayed something, stabbed himself with his own weapon and died.

Such an honor display impressed the elders and adapted the custom for a defeated warrior. From there on, each time a hunter were defeated by a worthy opponent, the warrior has to kill himself and or his comrades will give the victorious an offering, maybe the fallen warrior's weapon or the clan's mark.


	2. Chapter 2: Shooting star

**CHAPTER 1: SHOOTING STAR**

* * *

 **Low Earth's orbit**

The Hunter's ship had been orbiting the planet for the last two days. Active cloaking avoided being detected by the inhabitant's rudimentary tracking devices. As usual, Hunters studied the planets looking for a suitable place and challenge by direct observation or in case of developed civilizations, by monitoring transmissions. The ship's computer detected a myriad of electromagnetic and microwave emissions and soon tapped into the planet's communication network.

These creatures had created a global communication network, but still they haven't learned to cooperate for a common goal, they're still stuck on their rock, the Hunter thought.

He learned of little conflicts ravaging the desert area west to the inner ocean at the greater continent. On the other side of the planet, he received notices of violence and civil unrest in urban areas.

This particular territory was once occupied by a great warrior civilization, he remembered those who built stone pyramids and fought with obsidian blades and cotton armor. These fierce warriors took the heads of sacrificed warriors and chosen people and display them in a place called _Tzompantli_ [1] in their language. It was similar to the Hunter's trophy case, made merely for the exhibition of skulls.

The Hunter wondered if the Humans, as they call themselves, still have the custom of close quarter combat and respect for the enemies. It checked radio transmissions and most of the audio and video shown an increasing violence in one of the cities located north of the country. A name was repeated: Pedro Quintana.

From video transmission from the planet the Hunter learned Pedro Quintana was powerful and his warriors used skulls masks and sometimes took off the head and body parts of their enemies. The Hunter was excited for such a prey, some powerful and feared warrior who also took trophies like the great leaders of his clan.

They'll be easy to track, unlike the hunters who did their best to hide their activities to all except to their targets, Los Esqueletos seemed determined to be noticed, leaving traces easy to follow and almost publicly announcing their doings through blankets and videos. The Hunter wondered how was it possible the security forces couldn't located them in such a small area.

He pressed a button and part of a wall opened, inside was equipment for hunting: Armor, cannons, net guns, spears, discs and a collection of masks. Besides, there was another case, the one filled with skulls from the prey he had killed: The samurai's skull from his rite of passage was displayed in the center, the place of honor. He then went to the ship's bridge and prepared to land.

The ship's engines flared as it passed above the city and landed in a nearby hill engulfed in a ball of light.

\- o -

 **Cd. Juarez, Mexico-United States border line, minutes later.**

The desert air was surprisingly hot for this time of the year. Chihuahua desert was hot even on winter, and the city of Juarez in the US-Mexico border had extreme climate. Cold at night, then warm as sunrise, then rain, wind and dust and then cold again at sunset.

That night, the city streets were deserted, the inhabitants preferred not to wander because since 2006, drug cartels have turned this border city into a battleground for which cartel controls the drug traffic into the US. On this war zone, one particular drug lord, Pedro Quintana, had rose into power, and was waging war with the Sinaloa and Juarez cartels. He and his group of Sicarios, the so-called Los Esqueletos had been terrorizing the area for the past three months.

A group of ten men of Quintana were patrolling one of the dirt roads in the outskirts of Cd. Juarez; the group had been extorting the inhabitants by kidnappings, robbery and protection racket. Quintana had ordered to make an example of some citizens whom hadn't pay. They were well armed: AK-47s, Berettas, machetes, even grenades, and all have their distinctive skeleton masks like those used in _Dia de Muertos_ , hence their name.

Aboard the leading truck, Cartel enforcer Miguel Quintana, Pedro's brother, was happy. He was the Sicario's leader and a particular brutal one. He was talking to his driver about past jobs.

-"Remember that fucker, Luis? He squealed like a pig when my brother skinned him. That happened when you get your hands on one of Pedro's mistresses."

-"Yeah, you took some from the boss, the Boss take something from you. What about this guy we are going to pay a visit? What he did, and most important, what are we doing him?" Luis, the driver, asked interested.

-"He didn't want to pay for my Brother's protection. He objected why he had to pay us for protection if the only ones fucking with honest people are us? That shit bastard called us Bullies"

-"You must have big balls to say that to the Boss. Well, I'll cut them off myself." Then he laughed loudly.

After a moment, Luis opened the window and the hot air penetrated the truck's cabin.

-"Pinche calor, Is hotter than Hell." He complained

He stared at night sky; there was not a single cloud. The full moon illuminated the desert. Suddenly, a shooting star crossed the clear sky; it fell behind the hills producing a momentary flash.

-"Did you see that, _Cabrón_?" he exclaimed.

-"What was it?" Miguel asked.

-"A fucking shooting star, I think it hit the other side of the hill." Luis responded.

-"Then make a wish. Stop the bullshit and focus, fucking _Guachos_ [2] could ambush us any time

* * *

[1] _Tzompantli_ was a temple or a wall where the Aztecs displayed skulls from enemies, sacrificed warriors, maidens and even children, for religious motives, respect or simply to induce terror on their enemies.

[2] _Guacho_ is the colloquial name for the Mexican Army


	3. Chapter 3: Nightstalker

**CHAPTER 2: NIGHT STALKER**

 **Cd. Juárez, midnight.**

The hunter looked around; he was at the city outskirts. Pale white lights indicate the outer suburbs, inhabited mostly by factory workers and their families; this was one of the poorer parts of Cd. Juarez. Tonight, there was full moon so it wasn't pitch black.

Complete darkness was never a problem for the Hunter species. Their home world orbited a red giant star which emitted a lot of infrared radiation, lot of heat but little amount of visible light, so the creatures living there developed infrared vision. Of course the hunter could see normal spectrum, he had eyes like those of ours, but like snakes they had pits in front of their eyes for heat detection, an infrared signature superimposed to their vision, and his mask filtered some of the ambient heat, making prey tracking easier.

Little red spots indicated the Hunter there was little nocturnal fauna around, rats and a rattle snake he avoided, these aren't his prey tonight. He was after Pedro Quintana, the most feared man would make a nice add to his skull collection, and maybe he could take the skin of some of his men to sell them. Like any other hunters, the creatures sold skins for the manufacture of objects and accessories: belts, bags, ceremonial knife sheaths, loincloths, etc.

One of the Hunter's favorite loincloths was made with the skin of a Warrior from the tropical islands far west. The warriors on that tribe used tattoo art that was full of distinctive signs to express their identity and personality. Tattoos would indicate status in a hierarchical society as well as sexual maturity, genealogy and ones rank within the society.

This warrior had a magnificent image of a _Tiki_ god and a pattern of spears, symbolizing he was a warrior and would became a demi-god after death[1]. Now, exhibited on the Hunter's lower torso, symbolize the spirit of the warrior would became part of the Hunter's life energy.

The sound of gunshots reached the ears of the hunter, taking it out of his thoughts, who immediately sprinted to the place where a possible battle was taking place. He didn't want to claim trophies immediately, that was a mistake some young did. Eager for glory, they revealed themselves too soon and some had paid the price; an experienced hunter first watched, evaluating strengths and weaknesses, looking for the best way to taunt and defeat the enemy.

He reached the houses at the edge of the settlement, although he was using active camouflage, one or two dogs detected his smell and barked nervous. The hunter ignored them as the beasts couldn't reach him, jumping on the houses' roofs. When he reached the place where the shooting originated, he watched the scene, recording everything with his mask.

\- o –

Miguel Quintana and Luis Ortega descended from the truck, with his AK's in hand. The other sicarios jumped from the back and fired a few rounds to the sky, announcing they were in the area. It was a common practice, as police force was outgunned and unable to maintain order, these criminals roamed free on the streets. The terrified citizens could do nothing but cover themselves in their houses.

-"Over there! That's the house. Get me that fucker and his family too" Miguel ordered.

The Sicarios obeyed, they fired at the door, knock it off and entered the house. Screams were heard; more gunshots and then two men dragged another out of the house while the third pointed his assault rifle towards the house.

Four more people came out of the house, a woman with one little child, a teenage girl and an old man, followed by two more Esqueletos, pointing them with automatic weapons.

-"Leave them alone! You fucking animals" the man cried.

-"Shut up! You're in no position to give me orders" Miguel said, and hit the man on the face with the rifle's grip, the others kicked him.

The man's family was terrified, they didn't dare to move, Quintana's men thrown the man in the truck. The old man shouted.

-"Fucking animals" the woman cried.

Quintana shot the old man in the chest; he fell to the floor face first. The two kids cried. Luis Ortega mocked.

-"He said shut up. If you call the police the Boss will not be generous to get you back your husband's remains for a proper burial"

-"And you better get the money next time we came or I'll kill your children or worse" Quintana added, throwing a lascivious look at the teenager.

On the roof, the Hunter wondered why these humans did threatened females and children and killed the old man, on his society, warriors and hunters never killed or hurt defenseless creatures. Those acts of senseless violence were dishonor, which on his culture, was worse than death. The offender was targeted and hunted in turn. The Hunter cursed on his language, a series of clicks made by his four mobile mandibles.

-"What the Hell was that?" Luis Ortega exclaimed when he heard the Hunter's clicking, not so far above him.

-"It was just a cricket, asshole" Miguel responded. "Let's go before the army arrives"

-"No, it was more like a rattlesnake, came from over there" Luis said, pointing above.

-"There are no snakes on the roof"

-"Someone is watching us, Miguel. Remember I always feel that when an ambush is about to happen… what was that?" Luis exclaimed nervous, he had seen something moving on the roof.

Miguel looked in the direction that Luis indicated but couldn't see anything, just a slight distortion of the lamp's light, Miguel assumed, caused by excessive night heat.

-"You're so fucking paranoid, Luis." Miguel scolded him "The heat is making you see things that aren't there" Miguel walked towards the vehicle and climbed into the cabin. Luis followed him and then they left the area.

\- o –

* * *

[1] The Warrior the Predator had hunted was a Samoan, covered in tribal tattoos.


	4. Chapter 4: Helena Duel

**CHAPTER 3: A GOOD OLD HELENA DUEL**

 **Abandoned warehouse, _Los Esqueletos_ ' safe house, midnight**

The Hunter jumped once more over the roofs, trying not to being detected as he followed the truck. Thanks to the species stamina he was able to keep pace with the vehicle for a few kilometers, until they reached a warehouse near the border.

The truck stopped and the men entered the building, dragging the man from before, visible hurt. The Hunter climbed the warehouse and watched from the large windows at the roof. The Sicarios stripped the man of his clothes, tied him up to a chair and continued beating him.

-"See, this is why you need our protection. This is what happens when you refuse to pay for it, shit happens" Luis Ortega said calmly while hitting his face with the butt of the rifle. The man spited two teeth.

-"You fucking beasts" the man said. Luis Ortega pulled out his knife and put it on the man's throat.

-"Hey, you better don't kill him. I want to have some fun too" Miguel Quintana intervened, and then rose the man's fallen face "What'd you say? You think we are beasts? Well, let's see if you can take a fight man to man. Let's get a good old Helena duel"

The two other Sicarios cheered, they were accustomed to Miguel's demonstrations of power. He enjoyed brawls and knife fighting… as long as he had the advantage of two or three goons backing him up in case the fight turns out difficult or he was losing. But in general, those men enjoyed Miguel's language and occurrences while fighting, he had a great imagination when insulting and denigrate the enemy.

They cut the ropes and grab the man. Miguel Quintana dropped his rifle and pulled a knife and tossed up to the man, the naked man, he bent to grab it but at that moment Ortega stepped on his hand so hard that he broke his fingers. The man cried and the knife fell from his hand.

-"See, you can't even grab a knife. How did you expect to fight a real man like me? Eh?" Miguel boasted. The other laughed.

The Sicarios tied up Miguel's and man's arms together and formed a circle around them. A Helena duel was made this way, two guys with their hands tied up and fighting with knives until one bleeds out. Miguel let the man strike first, but he was weakened by the beating and his broken hand. They circled each other and then the man managed to strike Miguel right on the abdomen. The knife bounced and fell.

-"Look at this feeble, he can't even bury a knife properly" Miguel laughed; the bastard was using a bulletproof vest beneath his jacket.

Now, Quintana Miguel threw lunges with the knife, severely cutting the naked man. The others applauded. Bleeding, the man said.

-"Cheating bastard. One day… there will be one… who cut your–" the man didn't finished the sentence, he collapsed as Miguel cut his throat and let out a victory cry.

-"No one fucks with the Quintana brothers, let everyone know that my Brother is the fucking boss around here, and those who do not pay for their protection will follow this poor bastard to the grave or worse" He ordered and his Sicarios left the place; he took off his blood stained shirt.

On the roof, the Hunter cocked his head. He didn't understand the way in which these supposed warriors teased their prey. Teasing a prey was an essential part of the hunt, a properly pissed off enemy, fought in a formidable way, but the provocation was always carried out in a structured and ritualistic way.

When he´d carried out his rite of passage, he attracted the attention of the warrior by killing some guards of the near castle, when the Shogun had sent his most trusted samurai to assassinate the _Oni_ , the hunter murdered the warrior's favorite apprentice in turn, and the samurai, guided by honor, sought to confront the responsible _Oni_ alone in the cherry tree garden where the Hunter had left the apprentice's heart and sword.

The hunter moved away from his memories and focused again on the present.

Clearly, the human below him wasn't a warrior, he was vicious and without conscience, that wasn't the way of a _Ksathrya_ [1], nor was the way of _Bushido_ the ancient warrior of his youth demonstrated. That was the way of a predatory beast.

Hunting non-sentient beasts was different than battling warriors; in a match, a vicious predator fight to kill, it doesn't mind if you're armed or not. There's no honor code, it's a fight for survival. The Hunter again remembered the day when he had faced a dangerous creature.

\- o -

It was midnight at the lush jungle moon. He had herded the predator until he had cornered it on a cliff of basaltic rock covered with tall trees with blue green leaves, the only light came from the violet gas giant which dominated the sky.

The attack came suddenly and without any warning, the large beast lunged towards the hunter from a thick branch above, landed on his back and threw him to the ground, a myriad of bioluminescent insects rose in flight like a bright cloud of green, blue and yellow phosphorescent tones. Before the beast could bit him on the neck, the Hunter turned on and threw the beast off him. Despite its size, it was not very heavy but had it great strength.

The beast landed standing like a cat and attacked again. This time, the Hunter held his spear against the jungle ground and the creature fell directly on it, the spear pierced its abdomen and the beast screamed in pain, threw a few blows with its front legs, armed with claws of a very sharp organic metal compound.

Finally, the large predator's body relaxed and the beast stared at him with glassy eyes and short breaths. The hunter paused and proceeded to remove his mask. He wanted to face his prey before hitting the final blow as part of the ritual hunt, but at that moment, the creature launched a final blow to the hunter, leaving two bloody furrows in his face.

\- o -

Premature celebration of a defeated beast was a mistake he will never repeat; the Hunter touched the parallel scars that crossed his face. He chose Miguel Quintana as his next kill; if he was the sibling of Pedro Quintana, the intended target, killing Miguel would tease him and force him to show, and then he will be part of the Hunter's trophy case.

First, he needs to isolate him from the rest. Using his mask, the Hunter tracked the other heat signals. Two men stood outside the warehouse, guarding. The one called Luis and another were at the far end, pulling some kind of a barrel marked with warnings stickers.

-"Help me cook this fucker" Guadalupe ' _Lupe_ ' Herrera told the man next to him.

-"No, no cooking this time, the boss wants us to hang it with a message for those who don't want to pay" Luis Ortega responded.

Cooking was a common practice of disposing a body in a barrel of acid, with the sole intention of the victim to simply disappear, Lupe was the cooker. Overhead, the Hunter climbed on the steel beams of the warehouse, and prepared his equipment. He wanted to kill stealthily the guards because the moment the alarm sounds, Miguel Quintana will flee. Luis Ortega and the other sicario dragged the body towards the truck, alongside rope and a piece of canvas for the message. At that moment, the Hunter dropped from the ceiling just between the two killers.

* * *

[1] _Ksathrya_ : A warrior caste in ancient India, expert in all kinds of weapons.


	5. Chapter 5: El Diablo vino por ellos

**CHAPTER 5: EL DIABLO VINO POR ELLOS**

 **Abandoned warehouse, Los Esqueletos' safe house, midnight**

-"This bastard is heavy" Luis Ortega and the other man were battling with the corpse.

-"Let's finish this and then we can get some beer, there are two _morritas_ waiting for us" the cooker told him.

-"You only think in _morras_ –" Luis Ortega scolded him, but then he shut up midsentence "Shhh, What is that?"

-"What's that what?" The cooker asked back, but then he heard it too, immediately put himself alert.

Luis Ortega was always paranoid, in his life as criminal he had made a lot of enemies, which was the reason he was cautious, never stuck in a routine, never turning his back on anyone for more than a minute. Those abilities had allowed him to remain alive where others had failed: ambushes, betrayals, assassination attempts…

-"Where is it, Luis?" the Cooker was nervous, both were pointing their weapons to the warehouse windows, near the roof.

Luis Ortega noticed three red dots in the Cooker's head, he was about to warn him when a bluish bolt of plasma blew it up in a cloud of pink vapor, the lifeless body fell to the ground twitching.

-"Where are you, fucker? Get out of there!" Ortega shouted, he was sure now a sniper was sent to kill them. "Get out _gringo_!"

The assassin had to be American, FBI, DEA, Marine, he didn't know. It was impossible a Mexican sniper was sent; the cartel controlled most of the police and a few generals in the Army, those who they can't control were killed.

The criminal never imagined there was no soldier nor did even a human who was chasing him, the air next to the body sizzled in a myriad of blue sparks and a 7' body materialized. Ortega noticed the bulky, tall body, its green-yellowish skin covered in a mesh and a loincloth made of tattooed skin. On the upper torso, the giant humanoid –because at this point Ortega knew it wasn't human –wore a metal chest and shoulder plates, on the right shoulder, a pistol like weapon still glowed red from the shot, and over the face a metallic mask with strange markings. Not taking any chances, Ortega fired his AK-47 at the creature.

-"You want a piece of me?" said as he fired.

\- o -

The Hunter was agile; he leapt with his powerful legs and evaded the barrage. The targeting system on his mask located the weapon, marked it with the triple laser sight and fired a low burst from the plasma caster. The assault rifle fell from the _Sicario_ 's hand, the gold coating partially melted. Ortega screamed as his right hand was slightly burned.

The Hunter didn't like to kill with the plasma caster; he only used it to neutralize major threats as the armor piercing assault rifle. He approached Ortega slowly, but Ortega wasn't unarmed yet, he pulled a jeweled, gold coated pistol from the holster and fired a nine millimeter round directly on the Hunter's chest, green phosphorescent blood spilled the warehouse floor, the Hunter roared in rage.

The Hunter pulled a metal bar from the pack on his back. By pressing a button, the bar extended both edges to form a spear, he throw it at the _Sicario_ and impaled him on the hand to make him drop the pistol. Ortega backed off as the Hunter approached; the round from the pistol had no effect on him except making him angry.

Finally, the Hunter came to where Ortega was and raised the man on the ground and then, Ortega made his final move, a sharp knife hidden on his boot pierced the right side of the Hunter, but the blade penetrated only three centimeters.

-"Look at this feeble, he can't even bury a knife properly" The Hunter said, mimicking Miguel Quintana's voice, and then added with Ortega's own voice "Let's finish this and then we can get some beer"

The Hunter impaled Ortega with a pair of serrated blades on his wrist bracelets, made by carving the claws of the Beast from the jungle moon, properly carved. Those were the weapon of choice for the Hunter race during hand to hand combat, the origin of that tradition was long lost, but the Hunter suspected it was specifically designed to collect trophies.

Properly used by a skilled hunter, the blades pierced each side of the spine of the victim, and then with a vertical upward movement, the blades would separate the ribs from the column, allowing the tearing of the head with the spine intact, a skill that took time to learn. The Hunter did this with the mastery that only hundreds of successful hunts could give.

The hunter threw a victory roar while Ortega's head and spine dangled on his hand. The celebration was interrupted as Miguel Quintana and a group of armed men arrived, after hearing the gunshots. Quintana saw his friend's headless body covered in blood and the monster holding its macabre trophy.

-"See, this is why you need our protection... shit happens" The Hunter teased his future prey with Luis Ortega's voice.

-"Who the hell are you?" Miguel asked. He wanted to know the identity of the monster that will pay for his friend's death.

The Hunter roared and the men retroceded, repulsed and scared.

-"Kill that motherfucker!" Miguel ordered, but before the criminals could react, the Hunter put back his mask, activated the optic camouflage and jumped back to the roof.

\- o –


	6. Chapter 6: Demon

CHAPTER 6: DEMON

Sundland Park, NM. Pedro Quintana's Finca, just across the border of Cd. Juárez.

-"Can you explain me, brother. How a fucking assassin did killed Luis in front of you all assholes and got away unscathed?" Pedro Quintana was furious, if the man in front of him wasn't his own brother, the Sicario would already shoot him on the balls for the failure.

-"I… I told you, Pedro. _Fue el Diablo_ " Miguel responded.

-"That's bullshit! There's only one Devil and it's me!" Pedro slammed a fist on the table, his wife let out a little scream. "Why did you insist with that Miguel? Are you stoned again?"

-"No, Pedro. I told you, we heard gunshots on the warehouse, by the time we arrive it had already killed _Lupe_ , and tore off Luis' head. Then the fucker spoke to us with Luis' voice. The devil had consumed his soul." Miguel was really scared. Pedro always though nothing could ever scare his brother.

-"I'm a devout man Miguel, you'd know, every day I entrust myself to god and _Malverde_ " He signaled a little altar where a bust of a mustached man dressed in white shirt and hat stands. "I do that so neither the police nor Death takes me to Hell before my time. Listen, Brother, I'll only ask you something now, find that fucker and bring him to me. Either I'll kill him or hire him."

-"Yes, Brother" Was Miguel's only answer.

Miguel walked to the Finca's garage and boarded the armored SUV waiting for him. He still didn't know how to find the Demon, but reassured the best course of action was to get back to the warehouse and if the Devil wants him he'll be waiting.

The SUV skidded around the dirt road leading to the warehouse; Miguel rushed inside assault rifle on hand. For the last five minutes he tried to contact the rest of his men inside, with no response. The first thing he saw was blood, all over the floor, not just where Luis and Lupe's bodies had fallen, but the entire place. He felt something wet fell on his forehead and touched it, it was blood, so he turned up and crossed himself.

-"Mother of god!" He exclaimed.

Hanging from the steel beams of the warehouse were the flayed bodies of his men, tied from the feet and their arms swinging macabrely by the wind that came in through the broken windows.

-"What happened here?" one of the _sicarios_ sent by Pedro asked.

-"It came back while I was with my brother." Miguel said, and then ordered "You, two! Find him; it should not be far away"

-"What we do if we find him?" the other man asked.

-"I don't know, buy him a beer" Miguel responded with disdain "You shoot him! But let him alive, the bastard is mine!"

The fact was Miguel was scared. In the time the cartel had been operating, no rival group had been able to defeat his men and now, a monster; a creature singlehandedly had massacred ten of his best enforcers. " _Fear is only for the weak_ " Miguel thought, Devil or not he was determined to avenge his friend.

\- o –

Over one of the steel beams which supported the structure, the Hunter observed the armed men. After he had taunted Miguel Quintana by killing his friend and having taken his trophy, the Hunter returned to the ship. The Hunter put Ortega's skull, properly polished on the case.

Upon returning to the warehouse, the place was crawling with armed men but Miguel wasn't there. The Hunter then killed the guards and took their skins to sold them back in the nearest outpost and in doing so, enraging further Quintana, in preparation for the final confrontation.

-"Do you believe in the Devil, José?" Juanito*, one of the two bodyguards asked to the other.

-"No Juanito, it doesn't exist, there's only one of those fucking gringos with state of the art weaponry, sent to kill the Boss"

-"You should. My father always told me the Devil existed and from time to time, he would walk the earth taking the souls of men." Juanito told him "He told me when the Devil came; it's always hot, because the devil drags with him the heat of Hell. And this days are hotter than shit."

-"No offense, but he was only trying to scare you Pal."

-"He disappeared in the jungle; he was with a guerrilla in Valverde. That year was very hot." Juanito continued "He never came back, and my mother brought me here looking to enter the United States."

-"Jungle mumbo jumbo, Juanito" José scolded him "now shut up and keep looking or you'll really know the Devil himself. The Boss didn't accept failure."

Above them, the Hunter clicked his mandibles in an inquisitive way. The humans below keep repeating one word: " _Diablo_ ", accessing the language deconstruction program inside the mask´s CPU, the Hunter learned that the word referring to him was Devil, the personification of evil. This bothered the Hunter a little, since throughout their history hunting humans they always had a word to define it and it was always associated with evil: _Devil_ , _Adilgashi_ , _Wendigo_ , _Rakshasa_ , _Oni_ , _Humbaba_ , etc. Although one of the words sounded similar to the ancient name of his people, possibly given to them by one of the first hunters, the humans always ended up misspelling because they lacked mobile jaws and could not pronounce certain sounds of the language of hunters.

\- o -

-"Did you hear that?" Juanito said after he had heard a strange clicking sound.

-"Up there" José responded and both they turned up. On the beam, there was nothing, they only saw the air ripple due to the heat; José was about to say that it had a vaguely human form when two green flashes shined where the eyes should have been. "There he is, shoot!"

Both guy fired their weapons but the Hunter evaded them using the steel beams as covers, the gunshots attracted Miguel Quintana and the rest of them. The Hunter assessed the situation and decided he would use his disc weapon called the Chakra, it was an ancestral weapon whose origins had vanished from memory, the disc was guided toward its objective by the mask's computer, flying and cutting through multiple targets and then returning to the owner.

Through his mask's HUD the Hunter marked those whose represented major threat, namely assault rifles, sparing –for the moment –those with pistols and low caliber machineguns and Quintana himself, the trophy.

The Hunter jumped into a catwalk at the far end of the warehouse, from where it will be easier to throw the _Chakra_ ; he landed with a metallic thump and immediately was hailed by gunshots. He threw the disc weapon which flew elegantly towards the nearest man, cut him clean on the abdomen and continued flying towards the next one, who was decapitated instantly before the disc returned to the Hunter. Two of the armed men took cover behind a pile of metal barrels, but the disc cut through metal and flesh alike.

-"¡Keep firing!" Miguel cried loudly, he was losing his patience.

-" _You want a piece of me?_ " The Hunter taunted him with Ortega's voice, and then threw his disc one last time at the remaining guy with an AK-47.

-"We can't kill the Devil, Miguel!" Juanito screamed, he dropped his gun and ran, totally scared.

-"Don't run, _Puto_!" Quintana shoot Juanito as he reached the door, the man fell with a bullet on his back.

Miguel was satisfied with the killing of the traitor, but the joy didn't last as the Hunter jumped from the catwalk right beside him. The Hunter raised Quintana by the neck with one hand and examined him, it wasn't hurt. He pushed him aside and then mimicked Miguel's voice " _I want to have some fun… Let's get a good old Helena duel_ "

\- o -

 **A/N: Welcome back, thanks for reading this short story, it's almost coming to an end, See you next chapter with the duel between Quintana and the Hunter, don't forget to comment.**


	7. Chapter 7: The Duel

**CHAPTER 7: THE DUEL**

 **Cd. Juarez, Angeles hospital.**

-"So, tell us Juanito. What happened there?" The guy interrogating him was American but he doesn't look like a DEA agent or the FBI.

The guy had arrived shortly after the police had brought Juanito to the hospital, he was in custody as a witness to the warehouse massacre, and Mexican authorities had never seen that kind of brutality. First they'd thought the warehouse was a kind of safe house for cartel victims but then realized the corpses were members of the cartel.

-"I don't talk to gringos" he responded in Spanish.

-"But you will. You are the only witness of what happened in that warehouse, and you know we are the only ones who are gone to believe you about that. The Federales believe you're crazy and your boss, Quintana, will kill you because his brother is dead." The man explained, his voice was calm and cold like the hiss of a snake.

-"Who are you?" Juanito asked, suspicious. "FBI? DEA?"

-"Just call me a friend." The tall, blue eyed man said. "A private company guy interested on find the one who killed your friends back at the warehouse."

-"And what do I get?" Juanito considered, the guy in front of him was right. Quintana surely will kill him not because he had fled, but because he failed to protect his brother from the 'Devil'

-"We can make you disappear, out of Quintana's hands" The man offered.

-"I… I'll tell you everything." And Juanito started what he had seen.

\- o –

-" Don't run, _Puto_!" Miguel Quintana shouted as he shoots Juanito on his back.

He fell to the floor apparently dead, but he wasn't, the bullet passed through his Right lung and it was difficult for him to breathe, he lay on his stomach and watched as the Devil came down and lifted Miguel by the neck.

-"Aahhhggg" Miguel Quintana growled and screamed as he tried to get out from the Hunter's grip.

The Hunter threw him aside as a rag doll, paused for a moment, tossed away his shoulder plate and plasma cannon, he did the same with the chest plate and then, pointed at Miguel with a clawed index finger. He understood that the creature wants him to do the same.

-"I think I will keep this, monster" Miguel said, tapping into his bulletproof vest.

The Hunter typed something on his wrist and a blue plasma flechette shot out of his bracelet, hitting Miguel's vest. The ardor made him shed the garment. " _Knife_ " The Hunter instructed the Sicario to pick up his knife as he pulled out a ceremonial dagger made from a shiny, stainless metal with carvings on the blade.

-"Oh right Monster, your game your rules" Miguel agreed, but then added "Show me your face. I want to see the Devil in the eyes."

The Hunter complied, disconnected the tubes that kept the mask with the exact mixture of gases from the atmosphere of his home planet, the gas was released with a hiss. The creature pulled out his mask, showing Miguel a green yellowish fiery face of yellow eyes inside swollen orbits, four mandibles each one ending in a sharp fang surrounding a small mouth also filled with sharp teeth, two large scars crossed the monster face from left to right diagonally.

The creature had no facial hair; instead it had tiny quills for eyebrows, and rubbery, long dreadlock-like protuberances as hair. The Hunter extended his arms and mandibles open in a defiant pose and roared. Miguel took the knife from the floor and held on his extended arm, this wasn't the right thing for an experienced fighter, the Hunter realized the Human in front of him didn't know the basics on hand to hand combat. The hunter let Miguel made the first move.

-"I'm gonna cut your dick off and put it on that pussy you had for mouth" Miguel said as he circled the Hunter. He launched the first blow, which was easily evaded by the hunter.

Miguel tried to reach the creature two, three more times, but his sweep technique didn't seem to work. He was furious because he had become accustomed to having his adversaries handcuffed, wounded and within reach of his knife.

-" _you can't even grab a knife. How did you expect to fight a real man_ " The Hunter taunted him, he was a bit disappointing because he hoped for the leader to be good fighter, even if he was a vicious killer his techniques shouldn't be those of a rookie.

-"C'mon fucker, show me what you have" Miguel was angry; he threw himself forward with the intention of stabbing the monster in the abdomen, it was a bad decision.

The Hunter grabbed Miguel arm with his left hand, and then used the blade to wound the man's abdomen, just a lacerating cut, just for the man to reconsider his poor strategy. But before Miguel retreated arced his arm up and wounded the hunter in one of the mouth appendages. The hunter gave a grunt of pain as phosphorescent green blood sprayed the floor and threw Miguel aside.

-"You liked, Monster?" Miguel asked. "Those aren't the only things I'm gonna cut you off"

-" _Can't kill the Devil, Miguel!_ " the Hunter responded, imitating Juanito's voice. Miguel realized the Hunter wasn't furious, instead he seemed almost pleased.

He wasn't far from the truth. After he had killed ten of his men and his friend Ortega, none of the men had hurt him seriously, which was disappointing. In the Hunter's culture, wounds are revered, it was common the Hunters returned with wounds and even lost limbs, which they exhibited with pride.

Wounds showed that a prey was indeed dangerous but that even so the hunter was better, having survived the encounter. There were a few cases in which a hunter falsified a wound to give him prestige, but if he or she was discovered, would face dishonorable execution or, at best instance, exile.

Miguel's move had taken him by surprise, but it'll not happen again. With a roar, the Hunter attacked. Punched the man one, two, three times, taking care not to cut him further with the blade or striking a blow that could break his skull, leaving it useless as a trophy.

-"¿What the fuck are you?" Miguel shouted.

He grabbed him by the neck and lifted him off the floor, preparing for the final blow. But in honor of the wound granted, he would let him know the name of his people, not in the native language of the creature, composed of clicks and guttural growls, but in sounds more adequate for the mouths of the humans.

-" _Yakṣa_ *" The Hunter said.

Miguel spat on the Hunter's face, enraging him. The Hunter then ripped Miguel's head off along with the spine, according to the costume, letting out a triumphant roar.

With a cord from his shoulder pack, the Hunter hung Miguel's body from one of the roof beams and using the ceremonial dagger, he removed the skin carefully, admiring the tattoos depicting skeletons. They will be a nice addition to the Hunter's collection.

He pulled his mask on and looked around; the heat of the bodies began to dissipate since they had been dead for several hours, except one, that of Miguel's assistant, Juanito, who still flashed in yellow and red colors. He was alive, the Hunter turned his body, Juanito was terrified, he had seen what the monster did to Miguel and he thought he would be next.

-" _My brother_ " The Hunter used Miguel's voice " _Find him; it should not be far away_ "

The Hunter then jumped over the catwalk above and disappeared, and Juanito heard the sirens of police cars approaching before he fell unconscious.

\- o –

-"So, this ' _Yautja_ ' is after Pedro Quintana?" The agent asked Juanito, after he finished the story.

-"Yes, I think that" Juanito responded "He wasn't interested on me, just grabbed me and tossed me like a piece of trash"

-"You probably are, and your boss too, but for some reason this killer deemed him worthy" The agent said "Mmmm. Ok I'm finished here."

-"Hey. What about me? you said you were to help me, put me into custody." Juanito begged.

-"You are a piece of worthless shit and I didn't sign anything. Besides, I have a bigger fish to catch." The agent said, and before he left the room, he added "Oh, and don't forget to warn your boss about this 'Yautja'"

\- o -

Hello readers, here's the new chapter in this story. Miguel is dead and now Juanito had to tell his brother Pedro he's the next in the Hunter's trophy list. Oh and a little clarification, I know the word Yautja is the canonical name of the Predators, but is not my favorite, I'd like to refer to them as the _Raksasa_ from the Hindu myth due to similarities in the description and habits. _Yautja_ is similar to the sanskrit word _Yaksa_ , which also is very, very close to the predators. Here I made the agent misspell the name _Yaksa_ into _Yautja_ , in the same way that Gojira became Godzilla.

*Yakṣa (यक्ष): is a Sanskrit word which means "speedy" (jie yi). It also means "courageous and strong" (yong jian).—In Vedic hinduism represent a group of mysterious beings, and are often associated with Rākṣasas. In many stories, they harass mortals, chiefly by enchanting forests, haunting the wilderness and waylays, killing any human who ventures near them and devours travelers, similar to the rākṣasa. They are not immortal, but they are very long lived and possess magical powers (Maya), although they can be defeated by men without magic.

Rākṣasa (राक्षस) were most often depicted as ugly, fierce-looking and enormous creatures, with two fangs protruding from the top of the mouth and having sharp, claw-like fingernails. They are shown as being mean, growling like beasts, and as insatiable cannibals that could smell the scent of human flesh. Some of the more ferocious ones were shown with flaming red eyes and hair, drinking blood with their palms or from a human skull. Generally they could fly, vanish, and had _Maya_ (magical powers of illusion)


	8. Chapter 8: Illegal Alien

**CHAPTER 8: ILLEGAL ALIEN**

 **Pedro Quintana's Villa, Sundland Park, New Mexico.**

It was not long before Pedro Quintana's men took Juanito out of the hospital by force; ten armed men threatened the scant medical center's security of the, firing warning shots and taking the only survivor of the warehouse massacre. After picking up the poor bastard, they boarded two armored SUV's and headed for the desert. There, they crossed the border via a hidden tunnel used for smuggling drugs and weapons and took the highway towards the Villa in the residential zone in New Mexico.

Unknown to them, someone was on the follow. The Hunter had put a tracker in Juanito before the police took him away, guessing he'll lead him to Quintana, whom surely will interrogate the wounded man about his brother's demise. But the hunter didn't waste energy pursuing them through all the city and desert; he had things to do before. He returned to his ship with the intention of preparing his recently acquired trophy.

First, he used the ceremonial razor to cut and detach the skin from the skull, and then with a tool similar to a vacuum cleaner, he extracted the brain matter from the cavity. Preservation demanded the bone be completely clean to apply the resin, a poly-carbonated compound whose mission was to avoid deterioration of bone carbon and phosphorus as well as cartilaginous fibers in case of other parts of the skeleton.

Once the process was finished, he polished Miguel's skull and place it on the trophy case, and his skin in a frame for its preparation.

As the next hunt will be the real prize, the Hunter chose his attire carefully; he let his standard equipment and took his ornamental and ceremonial weapons and armor. First, the marked mask which identified as a true hunter, with the symbol क्षत्रबन्धु carved on its forehead which in an ancient language meant member of the _Ksathriya_ or warrior caste. He admired the symbol, touching him with his fingers from right to left and remembering the day he won the right to carve it on his mask. Afterwards, took a small laser and engraved another symbol भग्नदंष्ट्र (Having the fangs broken) in honor to the wound received.

For weapons he kept his disc Chakra for long range weapon, and a double spear whose bladed points were made from the tails of a creature named _Aquabramelu_ *, It was given to him by his father, and he received it from his grandfather and so on. For protection, he used only the mesh and a shoulder plate where the power supply for his mask was. And last, he took the wrist bracelet which contained the computer and the self-destruct system just in case he was defeated and need to negate his technology to the enemy. It also contained the standard blades for hand to hand combat. Once ready, he left the ship and headed directly towards the border, and beyond, Pedro Quintana's hideout.

\- o –

Border patrol agents Robert Davis and Frank García patrolled the dirt road along the railroad next to the border, beyond was one of the poorest neighborhoods in Ciudad Juarez. Not so often, this area was the place where some illegal immigrants crossed into the United States, this was the reason the border patrol sent the drones and the most experienced agents in the hot desert.

-"I 'm bored, Frank. Nothing happens here." Robert complained "Keeping America safe from aliens is the most unexciting job."

-"Job is a job, Bob. You want to fire a weapon while protecting your country? Would you rather be on Middle East hunting terrorists?" García replied.

-"Hell no, I'd like my head right where it is" Robert responded, touching his head with a finger.

-"Then, stop complaining and keep your eyes open." García told him, staring outside, towards the long fence that separated both countries. Then the radio crackled.

-" _Border patrol unit Alpha-Kilo-two-four-niner this is CBP control, over._ " A Customs and Border Protection officer was calling them.

-"Roger, CBP control, this is Alpha-Kilo-two-four-niner, what's the situation?" Bob called back.

-" _We have a boogie in your zone, one of the drones picked up a heat signature. It's moving_ "

-"Maybe it's just a coyote" Bob Davis said to García "Those _polleros_ * never cross this way alone."

-"CBP, what's the target's direction?" Bob asked, "I can't see him"

The officer in the control room watching through the drone's infrared cameras followed the red and yellow signature over the blues, purples and black backgrounds. She typed a few commands and the tiny aircraft's cameras zoomed into the figure. It had a slightly humanoid form, which discarded any fauna roaming the area.

-" _Target is moving directly towards you at an average speed of… oh my god; speed is… 25 miles per hour!_ " She exclaimed

-"Are you joking? No _beaner_ * run that fast" Bob replied.

-" _Told you, it's running at top speed and jumped the fence like a steroid filled deer. That guy must be a relative of Usain Bolt_ "

Bob laughed, it was hard for him to imagine a guy running and then crossing a two-meter fence in one jump.

-" _Wait! He stopped, about two hundred yards south your location_ " The CBP officer warned. " _Maybe he'd spotted you, proceed with caution_ "

Frank García took his binoculars and peered through the windshield, trying to spot the target in the dim moonlight. Nothing, no movement in the bushes, even the wind stopped blowing. Something appeared on the lenses, a distortion like the air waves generated by the heat.

-"Nothing, fucking heat man, even in the night the desert is hot." exclaimed, he was sweating too.

-"What is happening? What's he doing?" Bob asked again.

-" _He's standing there, it seems he hesitated._ " The officer responded. " _He's pulling out something…_ "

-"Well, I don't see a shit."

Suddenly, above them, there was a flash. An explosion of blue sparks and yellow flames, then the charred structure of the vigilance drone fell right in front of the truck.

-"What the hell?!" both officers exclaimed.

-" _I lost it!_ " the CBP agent responded, distressed " _the drone's camera feed suddenly went dark and controls don't respond!_ "

-"That's because it's here, burning on the ground. Something had downed it" Bob said but he hadn't seen muzzle flash or heard a shot.

-" _If he had shot down our drone, be careful, he's probably armed_ " the agent on radio advised.

Before the Officer could do anything something crashed on the vehicle's capo and jumped away from them, only to disappear in the night, towards Sundland. Bob and Frank came out of the vehicle and observed the dent on the hood, which strangely had the shape of a human foot with a claw at the end of each finger.

\- o –

The Hunter resumed his chase; he had stopped momentarily to destroy a tiny survey aircraft which had been following him. The computer on his wrist had alerted him and then he used the disc to dispose of the artifact. Once destroyed, he jumped onto the vehicle of the two humans which surely were sent there by the tiny drone.

There was no need on killing them, a more valuable price awaited him, and the tracker he put on the wounded man back at the warehouse had stopped in one of the properties ahead, the one with high walls, well, at least high enough for humans, but not for the experienced _Yaksa_.

The first houses appeared and the Hunter jumped from roof to roof until he arrived at a road and climbed atop a cellphone tower, from there, he had a good view of the objective.

\- o –

 **A/N: Glosary**

 _Ksathriya:_ Warrior caste, expert in all kinds of weapons.

 _Aqrabuamelu_ : Scorpion man, kind of humanoid demon with scorpion tail and lion feet. Created by Akkadian godess Tiamat as an army.

 _Pollero_ : Mexican slang for human trafficker, those who help illegal immigrants croos into the USA for a very high price.

 _Beaner_ : Derogative slang for mexican and other Latin american people, named for the beans common in Mexican cuisine.


	9. Chapter 9: Vendetta

**CHAPTER 9: VENDETTA**

 **Pedro Quintana's Villa. Sundland Park, New Mexico.**

-"Who was the fucker who killed my brother?" Pedro Quintana hit Juanito in the face as he asked.

-"I told you, Boss" He replied "The devil took him"

-"Who is this devil? Which cartel is he from? Sinaloa, Juarez, those motherfuckers from south who are trying to get into my territory?" Quintana insisted, giving more punches at the already bloody face of the henchman.

-"I don't think he is from any cartel" Juanito responded.

-"A vigilante then?" he had heard stories about a single old man taking down cartel members in the Mexico-US border.

-"No! I told you it was some kind of monster. It has to be the Devil, because he spoke to me with Miguel's voice" Juanito remembered "The Devil had consumed his soul as it had done with Luis"

-"Listen you little shit, I'm done with you el diablo cazador de hombres bullshit, the real Devil are out there and is called DEA, not some superstition from the jungle" Quintana was furious "Now, how I am going to tell my mother little Miguel was killed by a monster and she can't see his body because the fucker had skinned him!?" Quintana punched him once more.

-"You will see, Boss. The Devil said: _My brother. Find him; it should not be far away_ " Juanito repeated the Hunter's words before he had fainted back at the warehouse. "I think he's coming for you"

Quintana took his jeweled pistol and aimed it at Juanito. "For your sake I hope you haven't let go of your tongue, Juanito, you _Sapo bastardo*_ "

-"No! I don't…!" He never finished the sentence. Quintana shot him on the head, then he turned to his bodyguards "Reinforce security. We'll gonna have a visitor soon"

\- o -

The Quintana brothers grew in Sinaloa part of the Sierra Madre, their father was a hunter and often took Pedro and Miguel on his hunting trips and taught them how to kill and skin an animal, also the tradition of eating the heart of the first animal he had hunted.

He started his criminal career as a mule for the Sinaloa cartel, smuggling cocaine and meth into the United States and later, he was sent to Los Angeles to negotiate a deal with Ramón Vega and his Colombian cartel in 1997.

The cartel's liaison with the Colombian mafia in Los Angeles back then, Esteban Pereira was Quintana's main competitor and the later had accepted the mission with the sole intention of killing the former, thus taking control of the territory for the Mexican cartel. But Pereira died that summer during the massacre in the Alvarado precinct. Pereira was found dead in a building on the industrial zone, not far from where a battle between the Colombian cartel and the police department had took place until a third unknown party had killed and skinned all the cartel members.

At first, the police had thought Quintana had killed him in order to take his place as Vega's liaison, but when Ramón Vega was murdered in the same manner on his apartment, while Quintana was in a bar on the other side of the city, the charges against him were dropped.

The truth was Quintana didn't give a fuck who had killed Pereira, he was grateful with the bastard who had taken him out of the way. Los Angeles was now out of hand, because someone else had eliminated in a week all the Colombian and Jamaican mafia, he went back to Cd. Juarez and started a war with the rest of the mafia in the border, imitating the modus operandi of the LA killer, which Quintana compared to a hunter, hanging his skinned prey and taking 'trophies'.

Twenty years later, Quintana had consolidated himself as the main drug supplier of El Paso area, and for the same amount of time had eluded the Mexican authorities by living in the USA, the DEA and the FBI haven't been able to touch him because he posed as a respectable businessman to IRS eyes, using his money to buy silence and justice, and _Los Esqueletos_ when the former failed.

\- o –

-"This killer is no better than me, a sick, murdering, cold blooded bastard. Either he is the same fucker back in LA and now twenty years later is no more than an old fuck, or is a copycat" Pedro said to himself.

Quintana entered his studio and admired his 'Trophy case', a large collection of jeweled weapons, bones and skulls, gold rings and other souvenirs taken from his enemies. Also, in a concealed wall safe, he had property papers generously 'donated' by those who he extorted.

-"In other circumstances I would hire him, I'd hate to waste such talent, but he'd killed my brother and that's why I must kill him." He took a gold coated FX-05 _Xiuhcoatl_ *, a Mexican army standard issue assault rifle, taken from a coronel who had ambushed on the desert once, but he had surrended once Los Esqueletos kidnapped his wife and children.

\- o –

On the antenna, the Hunter saw more of the armed men join the other guards at the perimeter, they were alert. " _Good, there is a chance it will be a worthy fight and not just another massacre_ " the Hunter thought. He evaluated each of the _sicarios_ , there were a few with heavy guns; the most dangerous was the one situated on the roof, he had a Barrett sniper rifle, but as far as he didn't see him, there was no danger. The rest of them had the standard AK-47 and AR-15 assault rifles, deadly at middle range but not fit for close quarter combat, none had bladed weapons beyond knifes.

The Hunter remembered the time when humans had discovered powder, even then, they still fought using swords and bayonets, but they had become lazy, have choose perfecting the art of killing instead the Art of fighting. They traded the elegance of hand to hand combat for the efficiency of mass murder at long range. Even when confronted in close combat they resorted to trickery and cheating, this was disappointing, but the Hunter will change that, those killers beneath him would learn the true art of combat.

\- o -

 **A/N:** Hello readers, It took me a little longer to finish this chapter because I realized that I had to show a bit of the background of the cartel and Quintana. Unintentionally,they had links with another hunter. Oh and had placed a little easter egg towards another fictional character played by Benicio del Toro. I hope in the future some story where the Predator and Gillick meet.

 _Sapo_. Toad, cartel slang for a snitch or informer.

 _Xiuhcoatl_ [ʃiʍˈkoːaːt͡ɬ] was a mythological serpent, it was regarded as the spirit form of Xiuhtecuhtli, the Aztec fire deity, and was also an atlatl wielded by Huitzilopochtli. The FX-05 _Xiuhcoatl_ is a Mexican assault rifle, designed and built by the _Dirección General de Industria Militar del Ejército_ (General Directorate of Military Industry of the Army) through the _Fabricas Militares_ (Military Factory). The rifle was officially presented on September 16, 2006, in the hands of the Special Forces Airmobile Group, GAFE. ( _Grupo Aeromóvil de Fuerzas Especiales_ ).


	10. Chapter 10: Trophies

**CHAPTER 9: TROPHIES**

 **Pedro Quintana's Villa, Sundland New Mexico**

The attack came without any warning. The sicario stationed on the roof with the sniper rifle relaxed a little just to blow his cigarette. In that moment something flew and landed on the barrel of his rifle; it looked like a little golden insect, with red luminous eyes.

-"Shhh shhh, get out of here" the man waved his hand to scare it. The little insect then shone with blue sparks and evaporated. "What the fuck?" the man exclaimed.

In front of him, more blue electric sparks appeared and a tall, humanoid form materialized. The man let out a scream and aimed the figure armed with a long spear with his rifle, he shoot and then a light explosion blew half his face.

The Hunter clicked, the tiny device worked good, but maybe too good. The 'insect' was really a powerful superconductor which magnetized the target. Unlike the directed energy weapons, the chemical kinetic projectiles from these primitive weapons can be stopped by a powerful magnetic field. More of the insect-like drones flew towards every single firearm on the yard.

-"What the Hell is that? Open fire! Kill him!" the guards shouted as they saw the Hunter on the roof.

Their weapons didn't work; they blew to pieces as the lead and copper bullets stuck on the magnetized muzzle. Worst, one of the _Sicarios_ was wearing a heavy iron gold-plated necklace; it was attracted by the drone with such force that it cut his neck. The body fell to the flood twitching.

The rest of the guards dropped their weapons; some had minor injuries but nothing that prevented them from continuing to fight.

-" _Mátenlo_ " they screamed. The Hunter jumped from the roof besides the nearest guard. He swept his double tipped spear and cut the man in half.

Five men surrounded the Hunter, he stopped. The sicarios pulled their bladed weapons, mostly tanto knifes and one Bowie, the leader pulled a machete and smiled. The Hunter clicked, and then pressed a button on the spear and the pole shrunk; the Hunter hung it from his waist and readied the wrist blades, those made from the claws of the jungle moon creature.

-" _You want a piece of me? I want to have some fun_ " The Hunter mimicked Luis and Miguel's voices.

All five attacked at once, they tried to grab the Hunter by his arms, but the Hunter was strong, he threw aside two of the sicarios, and used the wrist blades to decapitate a third. The one with the machete cut the Hunter on the abdomen, but the mesh he was wearing stopped the blade from making a major injury.

The Hunter roared, punched him on the face, he fell to the pool behind him. Just in time two more armed men came, they weren't on the backyard so their weapons still functioned; they shoot but the Hunter was faster, he evaded the barrage and used his disc to cut them in half through the abdomen.

The machete guy climbed out of the pool and fled, but he didn't make it far. The Hunter pulled his spear once more and threw it at the man. " _Don't run Puto_ " the Hunter said. The spear impaled the _sicario_ and sent him flying against a wall where he was struck against the power breaker, plunging the property into darkness

The Hunter looked around and let out a little roar, it wasn't the usual victory roar because the battle was not satisfying enough, it was over too quickly. He walked around the bloodied floor and bodies, " _Where's the leader?_ " the Hunter wondered.

-"Surprise motherfucker!" the shotgun shot hit him right in the abdomen and threw him against a window. The shot came from one of Pedro's bodyguard, the only remaining.

The Hunter fell against a table inside the house, there was no fatal injury, but those scatter gun shots from the humans were really painful at point blank. Phosphorescent blood splattered the wall and glass.

-"Ha ha ha, I got him!" The bodyguard celebrated, and then peered inside the window.

-" _I think I will keep this…_ " A clawed hand grabbed him by the lower jaw, and then it pulled, he ripping it out. The hit man fell gurgling in a pool of blood. The Hunter held with the man's lower jaw on his hand and put it on a bag dangling from his waist.

Looking around he inspected the large room, it was empty, none of the defenders were there nor his prey. The 'great warrior' was nowhere to be found. Instead, what he found was what appeared to be the prey trophy shelf, Full of weapons and some body parts.

For the _Yaksa_ , trophies were traditionally weapons and skulls, the few exceptions were objects given to them by defeated warriors, like necklaces, daggers, golden tokens or in the case of body parts, claws, fangs and spikes, those who had wounded the hunter who'd collected them.

There was a collection of high-powered kinetic projectile weapons, some gold-plated. The hunter didn't understood what was these humans compulsion of coating his weapons in that low resistance metal which could be easily melted by plasma fire, for him that had no tactical advantage beyond turning a tool into a jewel.

The same was for the body parts collected: Hands with no claws, flat human teeth, an eye in a jar and a… He clicked inquisitively, the only occasion in which a _Yaksa_ collected those were a very specific ritual about manhood, and it wasn't from a sentient species, being _Yaksa_ or Human, it was from an animal, the one who symbolized fertility.

His meditation was broken when a series of shots failed by a few centimeters.

-"Did you like it, Fucker? Soon yours will be there too…" Pedro Quintana appeared on the doorway, _Xiuhcoatl_ in hand. "It's here! Kill him, but be careful with my collection." He shouted to someone outside.

The wall was pulverized by high caliber bullets. The Hunter crouched, and jumped outside where a SUV with a mounted machinegun were firing on his position. "More firearms" he thought, "more soldiers and the prey is escaping"

He saw Pedro jumping into another SUV in the yard, accompanied by more armed goons. He was about to follow them but the machine gun fire cornered him against a wall. He would have to take care of that first.

\- o -


	11. Chapter 11: Toy Soldiers

**CHAPTER 10: TOY SOLDIERS**

 **Pedro Quintana's Villa. Sundland Park, New Mexico.**

The Hunter evaded the next barrage of machine gun fire, jumped out of the window to the backyard and then to the roof, the .50 Cal bullets shredded the tiles. There was no time to play, that weapon would kill him in the most dishonorable way possible if not neutralized. The Hunter activated his laser sight: three red dots in a triangle array appeared in the machine gun, emanating from the right side of his mask.

The triangular motif in the laser sight and the targeting system of his mask were of religious significance for the Hunter's race, it symbolized the three capital worlds in which their ancient empire was based, when they weren't nomads. Those cities were destroyed in a single, devastating strike by their enemies[1], another powerful race.

The plasma bolt guided by the three lasers reminded them of the destruction of their city and the lost lives that fateful day. Shooting the plasma cannon was only something that was done as a last resort and never against an inferior enemy. The hunter used to use it only to neutralize major threats.

The thunderbolt which the Hunter called _Vajra_ [2] hit the side of the armored truck just above the gas tank. The superheated gas melted the titanium and blew the fuel, producing a huge ball of fire that overturned the vehicle and sent two of the nearest sicarios to the pool.

-"Take cover!" another one shouted. "Use grenades, kill that fucker!"

The targeting system in Hunter's helmet detected and marked three ovoid objects incoming, the plasma caster's bolts intercepted them midair, detonating before they reach the intended target.

The Hunter jumped across the pool and landed right next to the one giving orders, and using his spear, he impaled the unfortunate criminal through the abdomen; that seemed to make the rest hesitate, something that the hunter took advantage of and in a series of blows with his blades he cut the arm to the nearest one, his weapon fell to the ground still firing.

The target was fleeing, the Hunter saw Quintana board his vehicle while he was distracted. He reached the front yard the SUV was already rattling towards the highway. " _Damn_ " the Hunter exclaimed on his own language, clicking his mandibles. At that moment, another vehicle hit him from behind, throwing him a few meters.

-"We have him" shouted one of the 4 thugs who descended from the vehicle "Quick, before he gets up"

The leader approached the fallen _Yaksa_ , there were a stain of phosphorescent green blood where the SUV defense had struck him. The Hunter was apparently dead; he turned it on his back with the help of another hit man and they saw the face covered with the mask.

-" _Vamos a ver quién es este cabrón_ " the leader tore off the mask from the Hunter's face and backed away in fright. " _Por Jesus Malverde, este hijo de puta es feo como el pecado_ "[3] exclaimed in Spanish.

-" _Be careful, he's probably armed_ " The Hunter said mimicking the CBP agent on radio at the same time he got up grabbing the hitman by the neck, his teammates shot but the hunter used the leader's body as a shield. Then, he threw the body against two of them, knocking them down. The hunter jumped and landed in front of the third and pierced his heart with the wrist blades.

He waited for the other two _Sicarios_ to rise. Two more sweeps with the blades and the disk and soon the three masked bodies lay on the ground.

-" _Vamos a ver quién es este cabrón_ " he mimicked the recently fallen victim, and took off the skeleton mask he was wearing, in retribution of what he had done with his. The truth struck the hunter: the self-appointed hitman was nothing more than a teenager, a child compared to the time it took a young _Yaksa_ to reach adulthood.

He checked the other three, younglings too. Worst, one was a female. The Hunter had failed to recognize her as such because of the tactical gear and masks they wear.

In the _Yaksa_ culture, hunting defenseless creature, killing younglings and females was forbidden. There were a few exceptions of course, but in case of a sentient species was taboo. The responsible _Yaksa_ then became a _Rakshasa_ , a creature outside the honor code, a _Rakshasa_ didn't followed the laws established by the Yaksa society to maintain the natural order, they hunted indiscriminately, using brute force and often recurring to cannibalism, being sentient species or _Yaksas_. A _Rakshasa_ was always marked, expelled from society and if possible, chased and killed by others Hunters.[4]

The Hunter remembered one particular case in which he was involved, the last time he had come to this planet; he had brought a youngling here for his rite of passage. Honoring his own rite he convinced the youngling to land in the same island in which he had fought against the Samurai, but instead of the peaceful cherry forests, they found themselves in the middle of a bloody war[5].

Amidst the chaos, the Youngling stalked one captain of the invading army, but his prey was heading directly into a trap by a complete cadre of enemy soldiers. The captain and his platoon entered a deep gorge, a bottleneck, the perfect place for an ambush. The young Yaksa decided to foul the enemy's plan and save the prey for himself, but he had fail to notice the supposed enemy soldiers were just kids, equipped with wooden swords and bombs attached to their bodies; their leaders had sent them in a suicide mission.

The Youngling hide this to the council, but the whole hunting trip was recorded by the ship and helmet's computer and the Hunter had to hunt the young one. Before dealing the mortal blow, the hunter explained that the right thing would have been to hunt the monster that used children in the war and kill him, and after that make a pilgrimage of purification or _Prāyaścitta_ प्रायश्चित्त.

After that, the Hunter never returned to the land which had made him kill his sibling's offspring, and now he had committed the same sin. Pedro Quintana's use of younglings and females had made him sin and not only that, he had fled. Now more than ever the hunter would kill him, no more trophy hunting, no, he would kill him for having him lowered to the level of bad blood, a _Rakshasa_. He would kill him and take his skull to one of the ruins of the sacred cities and deposit it on the altar of the Supreme Hunter, the first among the _Yaksas_. After that, he would spend a hundred solar cycles in complete austerity before he was allowed to hunting again.

\- o -

[1]The three cities or planets to which the Hunter refers are the triple city of _Tripura_ (त्रिपुर). Those were three cities built by _Māyā_ , of gold, silver and iron. See my other story Prometheus: New Discoveries

[2] _Vajra_ (वज्र) is a Sanskrit word for Indra's weapon translating to "thunderbolt". It is suggested that it was originally made up of two similar limbs of stone and later of bone; each having three claws resembling the claws of birds; and both its parts are connected together by the handle in the middle. Sculptures or other depictions of Hindu deities are often seen holding this weapon in their hand.

[3]Translation: "Let's see this fucker" and "by Jesus Malverde! This motherfucker is ugly as sin". Jesus Malverde was a thug revered as a saint by the Drug Cartels.

[4]A/N: As you already know, I'm using the terms _Yaksa_ and _Rakshasa_ from the Hindu myth as words referring to the same beings, but as in the Myth, they are different in actions. In this case, the _Yaksa_ are the traditional hunters which follow an honor code whilst _Rakshasa_ are the killers or "Bad bloods" as they are called in the franchise.

[5]World War II, the battle of Okinawa.


	12. Chapter 12: Crime Scene

**Customs and Border Patrol command center, later.**

CBP Agent and drone operator Sarah Johnson nervously typed once again on her terminal. The agent who was in front of her was getting impatient. He wanted all the information and recordings of the past events at Sunland, following the report of a downed vigilance drone.

-"I want everything… Sarah" The agent said after checking the CBP officer tag. Sarah Johnson complied, not for the guy's credentials, but because he looked like someone you don't screw.

Across the room, officers Davis and Garcia sat in their respective chairs, they were recalled to the control room for a debriefing of recent events. Sarah finished copying the audio and video files into an USB drive which she passed to the agent.

The agent inserted the USB into his own portable device, a smartphone sized portable computer with a telescope pointing to a star logo and the word Stargazer below.

-"Now, we're going to review everything again, start talking, Ms. Johnson." He ordered.

~ O ~

 **Five Hours earlier**

One of their vigilance drones had been shot down by an unknown attacker; officers on the border reported the drone crashing on the ground and something stomping on the SUV's hood. Almost immediately, they called a CBP Reaper drone from Biggs airfield in order to locate the attacker.

-"Alpha-kilo-two-four-niner, this is CBP control we had a bird on the area, over." Sarah called. "Lima Victor four two six[1] have you on the screen."

-" _CBP control, this is Bob Davis, anything from our unknown illegal alien?_ " Bob asked, he and García had found a trail of strange footprints, but they'd attributed to a black bear, although such animals had never been reported on the area. The footprints were wide and long, each ending in claws and they were almost 6 feet apart from each other, and they were heading towards the neighborhood beyond.

-"Negative, IR and night vision are blind. We are expanding the search zone to the nearest neighborhood" Sarah informed them.

-" _We found some footprints, heading towards Sundland. We'll take a look._ " Bob responded.

Suddenly, the infrared camera aboard the Reaper drone caught a heat bloom, an explosion, from one of the big houses north of the Border patrol position. The aircraft, flying at 25,000 feet pointed its cameras in direction of the signal to investigate.

-"All units, gunfire reported on McNutt road near Santa Teresa, respond immediately" The radio crackled.

-" _Alpha-kilo-two-four-niner, we're on our way. ETA five minutes_ " Frank García called. Bob stepped on the accelerator and the SUV advanced along the dirt road.

Bob Davis watched as a fire and smoke column rose from one of the mansions ahead, followed by gunshots.

-"Jesus! Is there a war there?" He recognized the noise as a high caliber machine gun, followed by three detonations, grenades most likely.

-"Bob, you didn't want to go to Afghanistan, it looks like Afghanistan has come to us" Frank responded.

-"CBP control, what's happening there?" Bob asked.

-"Thermal cameras are going crazy, one vehicle destroyed and explosions, fragmentation grenades. Lots of bodies, judging by their infrared signature" Sarah responded, she observed as two more vehicles escaped from the place, but there were a few shooters fighting on the Villa.

-"ETA two minutes" García informed, he veered towards the Villa, one kilometer ahead.

\- o –

The Hunter heard the approaching vehicle sirens. Not wanting to get more attention he activated his active camouflage and jumped to the roof. Few seconds later, the white car with blue and red lights blaring parked outside. The Hunter realized it was the same vehicle he had encountered earlier.

" _They followed me?_ " The Hunter thought, seeing two of the humans descend from the vehicle. Quickly he analyzed the weapons they'd drawn and determined they weren't a menace, he heard them talk.

-"Christ on a bike! What the Hell happened here?" a horrified Frank García exclaimed.

-"There are corpses everywhere" Bob informed trough radio. "Sent forensics ASAP, and tell them bring a lot of body bags"

-" _Be careful_ " the radio crackled. Bob and Frank went deeper into the property, guns drawn.

-"Hey, Bob, take a look at this" García called, he was at the destroyed window where he was investigating something.

-"What is it, García?"

-"Some kind of phosphorescent jelly, splattered on the walls and floor" García informed. "It's almost like blood." He touched it, the liquid made his finger glow, when he wiped it, the glowing stayed on his pants.

-"Leave it for the CSI guys, Frank"

More humans were coming and he'll be discovered, enough they have discovered his blood. He cursed in a series of clicks.

-"Did you hear that?" García said. He had heard something above them; he pointed the gun and flashlight to the roof, nothing.

-" _Alpha-kilo-two-four-niner_ " the radio crepitated again

-"How's our eyes in the sky?" Davis asked "Anything about those vehicles which escaped?"

-" _Three vehicles took a dirt road west bound for the desert. I redirected a few patrols_ " Sarah had informed the County sheriff about the vehicles.

The Hunter realized the humans had another of their aerial unmanned vehicles patrolling the area and they had located his prey. Not wanting to waste any more time, he typed into the wrist computer and connected to his ship's tracking systems. Quickly located the transmissions of the small aircraft and through a hacking program, he taped on them. The video signal from the drone's camera displayed on the Hunter's mask.

\- o -

-"What the Heck!" exclaimed Sarah as the screen displayed static for just few seconds. Then, the recording backed one or two minutes to the point where the drone started tracking the SUV's fleeing to the desert.

A warning appeared on the computers: "Intrusion alert, system compromised. Unknown signal detected."

-"Damn, we've been hacked." Sarah cursed. She tried with every firewall at her disposal but the recording continued playing; the unknown hacker was tracking the vehicles too. "Somebody is interested in them too, but whom?"

Suddenly the screen returned to normal and the alert turned off.

By analyzing the drone's data, the Hunter located the vehicles in which his prey flee, they had escaped the pursuing vehicles by shooting them, making them crash.

Typing on the computer, the Hunter ordered his ship to take off and pick him up.

~ O ~

The agent was getting impatient, he hadn't obtained anything from officer Johnson, except the fact the Reaper drone had been hacked by an unknown attacker, most likely the same who slaughtered the cartel in the warehouse and the Villa. He turned to the couple of Border patrol officers sitting on the corner.

-"What happened after you discovered the carnage and the drone was hacked?" He asked, and the officers told them what they saw.

\- o -

-" _Alpha-kilo-two-four-niner. Suspicious vehicles heading to Santa Teresa airport, pursuing patrols gunned and disabled_ " radio operator informed.

-"Roger that" Davis acknowledged and then added to García "C'mon, let's get those fuckers"

García was still looking towards the roof, he had heard something and wanted to make sure that no member of the cartel who was still alive was watching them and shooting them in the back.

On the horizon, the sun began to raise, the sky tinted in purple, orange and red tones. A faint cloud of smoke rose from the burned SUV. García heard the strange clicking again.

-"There's again, Frank. Can't you hear it?" He said, he inspected the place where the noise was coming but only saw a very faint distortion on the air. "It's the heat, making me see and hear things" He thought.

Suddenly, a cloud of desert dust hit the property; the officers raised an arm to cover their eyes and nose.

-"What the fuck? Where does this dust come from?" Bob yelled, the howling wind sounded odd, more like a humming than a whistle.

Peering through the gap between his fingers, Garcia saw a strangely human figure blurred by dust leaping from the ceiling to the concrete wall surrounding the property, it stopped there a moment, as if was observing them.

Around the shadow, sparks of an electric blue color appeared and for a moment, Frank Garcia saw the body of a green-brown-skinned humanoid covered in a mesh, a decorated loincloth covered his waist and a metal mask over its face. García closed his eyes in the dust and when he opened them again, the figure had disappeared.

A moment later, the sandstorm ended as suddenly as it had begun.

\- o –

[1]Hello again, We're in the final stretch of this story. Originally I started it as a means of introducing a story in which a Predator hunted vicious, honorless men as drug cartel's enforcers. I conceived the final chapter as the predator killing the leader in a manner matched by their own ruthless (a kind of poetic justice) but with the release of Rambo: Last Blood this would seem like a copy, so I decided to give the character another motivation: revenge for making him sin.

I realize the Predator would break his code of honor if he battle a drug cartel because it is increasingly common to recruit children and youth in their ranks, this is for real, so the traditional and ritual hunt would turn into a redemption quest. Stay tuned for the next chapter: the final confrontation between Quintana and the Hunter, but don't worry, you'll see more of this Hunter soon.

Oh, and in case you hadn't noticed earlier, the callsign Alpha-kilo-two-four-niner is the same the Jorden's tractor in Aliens, and Lima-victor-four-two-six is the designation of the moon in Aliens LV-426.

Send your comments and reviews. See you later.


	13. Chapter 13: Final Confrontation

**Santa Teresa airfield at Dawn.**

-" _Apúrate chingada madre!_ " Pedro yelled at his pilot while descending from the vehicle, pulling his wife and kid.

-"The plane is loaded and ready to take off. What's the rush Boss? _¿Nos cayó la ley?_ "

The pilot asked, just once he had seen Pedro Quintana so hurry. When he was not delivering drug packages along the border, Joaquín " _Gavilán_ " Aguirre had to be alert in case his boss needed to flee quickly.

-"Some fucker is hunting us" Quintana responded "It killed them all!"

-"Was that CIA lapdog or the old man from Arizona?" Joaquín asked.

-"No, you asshole; we have a new player in town." Pedro continued "Start that plane now. C'mon Laura, Pedrito _¡suban al avión!_ "

Joaquín opened the twin motor Cessna's door. Laura, Pedro's wife climbed up and helped her kid aboard. "I can believe you can't kill that bad _hombre_ , Pedro. You always boast you have big _bolas_ " She protested.

-" _Cállate_ " Quintana yelled "We don't have much time"

Laura Alameda was an ambitious woman. Born in Colombia was found by Quintana in one beauty pageant he attended. Quintana paid and threatened some of the jury and Laura won the contest, earning the nickname of " _La Reina_ ". After that, Laura dedicated herself to being the criminal's trophy wife, spending money left and right, no matter how bloodstained it was.

Everything changed when her son was born; she didn't want the kid exposed to the violent lifestyle his father dragged them into. She'd used the excuse of Pedro having multiple mistresses as a mean to ask for divorce but the ruthless drug lord threatened her. " _La Reina_ " had witnessed many times how members of the cartel who wanted to leave were killed in gruesome ways; "No one leaves the cartel" was the message.

Even Miguel, Laura's brother-in-law had murdered a good friend of him, a partner who wanted to retire. Miguel's feared the man intended to betray him with the DEA and simply arranged for a street tug to bleed him to dead in a mall, in front of his wife and daughters. Laura just dreamed the time when someone killed her husband.

The plane's twin engines started with a roar, the small airplane left the hangar and prepared to take off, _El Gavilán_ aligned the aircraft's nose with the runway and accelerated.

Just in time, three more police cars entered the airfield with the intention of stopping them.

-"We're leaving, those fuckers will not gonna make it" Joaquín said, the Cessna moved forward.

-"No, they won't" Quintana repeated, opened the door once more and fired with his rifle at the fuel tanks besides the hangar. " _¡Los veré en el infierno, cerdos!_ "

The fuel tanks detonated with force, engulfing one patrol in flames and the other two turned back, searching for a way to evade the fire on the runway. A white and green SUV jumped from the side into the airstrip, running side by side with the accelerating plane; from the window Officer García aimed his rifle towards the plane's cabin at the same time Bob Davis yelled on the speaker.

-"Stop the plane, fucker! You're under arrest!" but Aguirre continued pushing the throttle up. "Frank, shoot the undercarriage!"

-"There's a kid aboard!" García responded, having seeing Laura and Pedro through the windows.

-"Fuck!" Bob cursed "Why these motherfuckers always had a hostage?"

-"Watch out!" Frank yelled at his partner, Quintana fired a round from the plane's door.

-"Goddaaaaamit!" Bob exclaimed, Turning the wheel so quickly that the SUV lost its stability, flipped three times and stopped, resting wheels up. Davis hit his head against the wheel and fell unconscious. Frank had a concussion and a broken arm but was fine.

On the plane, Quintana laughed loudly, the plane finally gained lift and the front wheel took off the ground.

-" _Hasta la vista, Pendejos_ " Joaquín exclaimed, but on that moment something crashed through the windshield and impaled Joaquín which fell over the control wheel, pushing it and making the plane execute a dive just above the airstrip. The plane crashed sliding in a shower of sparks.

Quintana got up and saw Joaquin dead, with a strange spear stick in his abdomen. He wiped the blood from his mouth and looked back; Laura protected the child from the impact with her arms and was bleeding from the forehead.

\- o –

The Hunter was pleased; the tiny human aircraft had crashed cleanly and without fire. It would be a shame if it had exploded and its prey died among the flames. He watched as Quintana opened the door and climbed down the plane. He wasn't hurt; "good" he clicked.

-"Where are you, motherfucker!" Quintana shouted.

A trio of red dots appeared in Pedro's forehead and he shuddered. No, the Hunter didn't want this easy, the plasma caster was reserved for dangerous and worthy prey, and Quintana wasn't worth, using kids to fight and kill for him. The Hunter pulled his disc from the waist and threw it at him. Suddenly, the kid got in the way between Quintana and the disc. Fortunately, the Hunter reacted and cancelled the attack. The disc changed direction and returned to the Hunter's hand.

-" _Cheating bastard…_ " The Hunter mimicked the murdered man's voice " _Don't make… kill your children_ " added, with Miguel's voice.

Pedro Quintana understood immediately the monster in front of him was different from him, it wouldn't dare to kill children, unlike he and his men, who had killed entire families and caused a lot of collateral damage just to kill one rival or not leaving a witness alive. He hugged the boy with his left arm while he looked for the rifle with his right.

-" _¡No! ¡suéltalo!_ " Laura screamed, yet aboard the plane.

-" _Todo esta bien_. It's ok… it will do nothing, just one moment."

The Hunter walked towards Quintana and the child, if there was no option, he would have to take the child away and kill Quintana with his own hands. He was almost over him when he reached his weapon.

This time was " _La Reina_ " who intervened, putting herself between the Hunter and her husband, holding the Hunter's spear on her hands "Let my son alone, you monster!"

The Hunter grabbed the woman by the neck and made her drop the spear, and then mimicked Miguel and Pedro's voices " _Your husband's remains… with my collection._ "

Laura realized the Demon in front of them had the sole intention of claiming Pedro's soul and no one else, and as Pedro's using her son as a human shield, she'll let the Devil do his business.

-" _Llevatelo_ , that piece of shit…" she gurgled "has already been causing… a lot of misery… for too long" Laura said to the Yaksa.

-"Treacherous _puta_!" Quintana exclaimed, and shoot both the Hunter and the woman.

That was his last mistake, the Hunter released the woman's body and rushed towards the _Sicario_ , Quintana had put aside the child to have a better shooting angle. The Hunter took his _Chakra_ again and with one single movement cut Quintana's head cleanly.

He picked his bloodied trophy and saw the terrified look of the child. " _Todo esta bien_ " he mimicked. " _Will do nothing_ "

-"If you hurt him I'll blow your head off," said a voice behind him. "Step back"

The Hunter turned only to see Officer García holding his rifle with one hand, limping; Blood dripping from his forehead. It was the same human he had seen earlier, on the vehicle and then following the massacre at Quintana's house. He was a law enforcement agent, not a killer, on another occasion it would have been a good prey, but there had been enough death and the hunt was over. He had to execute his pilgrimage to regain his status before hunting again, the old rules demanded it.

" _No… Children._ " the Hunter said imitating Laura's voice, and then pointed to Quintana's corpse " _That piece of shit… causing… a lot of misery…_ "

García hesitated, was the monster telling him to take the child because he only wanted to kill Quintana? He had seen the plane crashing, and then how Quintana had jumped off the plane and how the monster cancelled its attack after the kid put between them; Surprisingly he had seen Quintana using his own son as human shield and shooting his wife. García wondered who the real monster was.

The sound of a helicopter interrupted his thoughts; a Silver Eurocopter approached from the city and police sirens also reached Garcia's ears. He dropped the rifle and approached the kid, "Come, kid." And walked towards the crashed SUV and Frank Davis, still unconscious, when he turned back, the hunter was gone.

\- o -


	14. Epilogue

**Former Yaksa star system.**

The ship emerged form hyperspace just outside the debris ring surrounding the star and then advanced a steady pace towards the inner system. The Hunter watched through the triangular windows of the ship's bridge. Miles ahead was an oddity, two planets embraced in a gravitational tug orbited in the habitable zone of the oblong blue star.

In Yaksa language, the star was named _Abhijit_ , which meant " _the one who cannot be defeated_ " in honor to their god of death, symbolized by a warrior who eventually wins all battles.

The ship veered towards the smaller of the two planets and disappeared on its thick atmosphere. Below the clouds, a totally different world awaited, a dense, bright green jungle covered most of the central continent, tall mountains and plateaus rose to the sky, bathed in a grey-blue light. It landed in one of the tree covered plateaus near the center of the main landmass.

The Hunter descended from the craft and using his positioning system on his wrist computer, he walked southwest. He stopped when he arrive at a great sink, barely seen from the air, the hole in the limestone rock was darkened; a water stream fell into it forming a small waterfall. The Hunter jumped into the dark below.

\- o –

The blue light penetrated some of the trees and reached the bottom of the sinkhole; the waterfall drained down the floor and formed a stream that was introduced into some ruins carved into the stone. These were _Yaksa_ ruins, one of the three capital cities destroyed long ago by the _Devas_ , a rival humanoid race which established their own city above the ruins but later abandoned it for unknown reasons. The Hunter will not set foot on those unholy lands, but rather, he followed the stream into the old _Yaksa_ city.

Large iron pillars decorated the atrium, the enormous hall was barely illuminated but that wasn't a problem for the Hunter, his night vision was excellent. He navigated through halls and corridors until he reached the great hall. One of the walls were fill with a series of niches in the stone, a _tzompantli_ , while the other housed a large statue of a member of the Hunter race, unmasked in a semi crouched posture, holding a spear on one hand and a skull in the other. Inscriptions on the base of the statue read _Abhijit tripurAdhipathi_ अभिजित् त्रिपुराधिपति, which meant "Victorious lord of _Tripura_ "

The Hunter bowed to the statue of his god of death, the inevitable warrior who someday will defeat him in battle. He untied a leather bag from his belt and pulled a well-polished human skull from inside. It was the first skull he'd collected, the one from the samurai in the cherry forest.

He had sinned, by killing younglings and females, albeit unwillingly he had turned into a _Rakshasa_ , a demon. Stripped from his _Yaksa_ status, he must bestow his most precious asset, the symbol of his rank to the god of death. The Hunter said a prayer clicking with his mandibles and deposited the skull in one of the niches, in which other trophies rested: skulls from creatures, humans and even a _Deva_ skull.

Next, the Hunter took off his mask and using a vial of a green substance, erased the markings of the mask, symbolizing he was in penance and will not hunt for a hundred solar cycles, living in austerity. He hanged the mask on a weapons rack nearby. Having completed the ritual he left the place and climbed up the sinkhole.

When he reached his ship, he used the wrist computer to lock down the ship and its contents, weapons and equipment alike. The Hunter now must use its own abilities in survival and crafting to survive in the jungle planet until he'll make his trial and became a _Yaksa_ again.

\- o -

 **Weyland Corp Health Division, June 2020.**

The Agent passed through a series of security doors and metal scanners. Weyland Corp health division building in Mumbai was a hi-tech installation, it started as a small biotech laboratory funded by Peter Weyland at the age of fourteen. The young genius had studied a master in medicine at John Hopkins and developed a synthetic trachea, later by using his first billion from his energy project transformed the small laboratory in the facility it was, employing more than a hundred scientists and looking for cure for deadly and rare diseases.

Peter Weyland was typing on his computer; a large screen projected some of the ongoing projects he had on mind, the ones who most demanded his attention was called _project: Michelangelo_ and _Project: Lazarus_. When he heard the door open and the agent stepped in, he turned off the screen.

-"How many times I have to tell you, I'm not interested in making bio weapons, Mr. Government agent" Peter Weyland turned his chair as the agent passed through the door into his office.

-"Gods not only grant boons, Mr. Weyland, they are also capable of the most terrible destruction" the agent said "You should know that, right? You compare yourself with the titan Prometheus but you really act more like Zeus."

-"First of all, my name is _Sir_ Peter Weyland, don't forget that." Peter Weyland said in an arrogant tone, he didn't like government agents, not the arrogant type whom wanted to have him in their paychecks. "Second, the fact I made my empire by inventing needful things doesn't make me the Devil, Mr. Agent"

-"I'll play the Devil this time and offer you something you certainly wanted" The Agent responded.

-"There's nothing you can offer me, Mr. Agent. My company is financially sustainable now thanks to the almost free energy I provide and the ongoing restoration of the arctic ice cap is on its final stage. Did you know won Nobel Prize for that?"

-"We are aware, Mister… _Sir_ Weyland. So, I have something here that may help you improve _Project: Lazarus_." The Agent said, Peter Weyland leaned forward in his chair and crisscrossed his fingers, something he did when he was interested.

-"Speak" was his only word.

-"Ah, I know you were the type who can't resist a challenge."

-" _otiosis manibus diaboli officinam_ ," Weyland quoted, "Idle hands are the devil's workshop, Mr. Agent"

The Agent put his chrome case over the mahogany desk and removed a metal cylinder with the bio-hazard sign printed on it. When he opened it, Weyland saw a crystalline tube with a strange phosphorescent liquid inside.

-"We know thanks to your funding of JIMO life exist on Europe, your probe discovered small bioluminescent worms and here, Weyland Corp health division are developing a cure for cancer based on the bioluminescent proteins of those life forms. Is that correct?" the Agent exposed. Weyland nodded.

-"Luciferase based gene therapy or BLADe use burst of light to kill cancerous cells, but Earth animals has too much genes in common with the cancer cells. I deduce that using luciferin produced by an animal with a DNA chain not developed on Earth could be a more effective method." He explained. "Using extraterrestrial genes to cure cancer, all of them"

-"What if I tell you someone has beaten to it?" The Agent dropped the bomb.

-"Who?"

-" _Quid pro quo_ , Sir Weyland, _Quid pro quo_ "

Peter Weyland reclined his chair, pulled a bottle from the case behind him and served two glasses of his best whiskey. He offered one to the Agent.

-"Weyland Corp security division will develop wherever weapon you need, Mr. Agent. I planned to acquire DARPA and other government contractors anyway" Weyland finally accepted. "Now, spit it out."

-"We don't know where they are from, but they'll been coming here since long ago. From witness accounts we know they call themselves _Yautja_ , a race of hunters. Big, ugly motherfuckers with a state of art technology but often they'd prefer crude, primitive melee weapons. Stargazer has been keeping track on them since World War Two, but there are historic records which traced them back to pre-history."

-"By state of the art technology you mean…" Weyland said.

-"Spacecraft, obviously, thermal scanning, electromagnetic pulse and propulsion -"

-"Nothing I wouldn't have." Weyland interrupted him.

-"Plasma based energy directed weapons, active camouflage, fast healing and apparently long lives." the Agent continued, without a flinch.

-"Fast healing and... Long lives?" Weyland was interested in only that issue.

-"We believe their luminescent blood is due to the presence of a bioluminescent protein designed to kill cancerous cells that may originate from long exposure to radiation from his energy weapons and cloaking." The agent continued "They have solved the problem so many headaches have caused to you"

-"And you'll hand the answer to me so easily?" Weyland stated.

-"You can keep that for yourself and make another billion, or maybe win another Nobel. But the advanced weapons technology you develop is ours."

-"I did not expect less" Weyland said.

The agent picked his suitcase, closed it and walked out the room. He didn't turned back, just waved his hand and said: "We'll see you soon, _Sir_ Weyland."

\- o –

 **June 1st, 2022**

 **BBC News: Cancer cure found!**

June 1st, 2022: 2:33 pm ET. London UK/EU: Scientists from Weyland Industries Health Division research in genetics, leaded by Nobel Prize winner and philanthropist Sir Peter Weyland, developed and released an effective cure to 98% of cancers.

In a new study, researchers from London inserted a gene extracted from bioluminescent worms on the Jovian moon Europa, discovered four years ago by a mission funded by Weyland himself.

This gene therapy consists in inserting a light source, known as Luciferin which activates bioluminescent light into cancerous cell previously treated with a photosensitizer; the light triggers the production of active oxygen species that destroy cancer cells.

"We improved our immune system by giving white blood cells bioluminescence; these cells will light photosensitive cancer cells like a vampire exposed to daylight, killing them. We used DNA strands from European worms because they have evolved beyond Earth and their DNA have enough differences to be immune to cancer, due to evolving in a world inside a strong radiation belt like Jupiter's." The Industrialist and Philanthropist explained.

For this, Sir Peter Weyland has been nominated to Nobel Prize next year, which will make him the fourth person in winning two Nobel Prizes and the third winning it on the same category.

\- o –


End file.
